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Australian iron ore major Fortescue aims to maintain supply of its Kings Fines low-alumina sinter fines product for key customers in China as well as in Japan and Korea with the go-ahead for the $US287M development of the Queens Valley mining area in the WA Pilbara.The Queens development is 15km from the Kings ore processing facility in Fortescue’s Solomons Hub area. Forecast mine life is 10-15 years from completion in FY22.

West Australian construction contractor SIMPEC is making further progress in the state’s mining sector with the award of its largest contract to date, for work worth about $A10M on Fortescue Metals Group’s Eliwana iron ore development in the Pilbara.Working for accommodation supplier ATCO, SIMPEC will design, construct and install electrical, communications and dry fire systems in the 800-room mine camp for the $US1.27B development project.

Australia’s third largest iron ore producer Fortescue Metals has followed Top 2 rivals Rio Tinto and BHP in disclosing export volume losses due to tropical cyclone Veronica that swept Pilbara coastal regions in March.FMG says the 5-day closure of ports and localised flooding cost it 2.5Mt during the March qtr (Q3FY19).It’s trimmed full year guidance at the top end to 165-170Mt, from 165-173Mt previously, and raised C1 costs forecast to $US13-13.50/wmt from $12-13/t.

Australia’s No 3 iron ore producer Fortescue has given the go-ahead for the $US2.6B ore processing facility construction for the nation’s largest JORC-compliant magnetite resource, the Iron Bridge project 145km south of Port Hedland in the WA Pilbara region.After successful large-scale pilot and demonstration stages, the full-scale development is expected to deliver 22Mtpa high-grade 67% Fe magnetite concentrate from mid-2022.

The big N Western Australia Pilbara iron ore export hubs are re-opening, with Ports of Port Hedland and Ashburton back in business following infrastructure assessments after closures for 93-hours and 110-hours respectively.The Pilbara Ports Authority says there was no significant infrastructure damage at any of the Ports and operations will return to normal over the next 24-hours. The Port of Dampier is currently undertaking post cyclone impact assessment.

Mining/trading giant Glencore’s McArthur River zinc operations in N Australia are returning to normal after a weekend cyclone, while ports in Western Australia’s N regions remain closed following the arrival of a 2nd cyclone, Reuters reports.The 2 cyclones made landfall over the weekend, forcing miners to suspend operations and evacuate workers. The major affected are Glencore’s zinc operations, Rio Tinto’s Weipa bauxite operations and the WA Pilbara iron ore export hubs.

(IRON ORE)
With Australia’s iron ore majors constrained by their highly geared production systems from quick expansions of their output, it could be left to the small fry to fill some of the supply gap created by the market disruption resulting from Vale’s Brazilian mine disaster.